Welcome to 2011...

What a start to 2011! The devastation that has hit Queensland is absolutely heartbreaking. Over the years I have witnessed natural disasters from the comfort of my lounge room... but never - even for a split second - did I ever believe that I would experience the effects of one first hand. In the past I have cried with sympathy and sadness for those who had been affected by such disasters; now I'm crying with heartbreak and sadness for my loved ones and those around me who have been hit... but also there are tears of relief that we were lucky enough to have escaped the wrath of it all - an absolute miracle! At present my dearest dad and I are 'enjoying' an extra few days holiday at a hotel in the city. We flew in from London to find that our suburb is an island and so we are here, while mum is bearing it all with family and friends in our neighbourhood. My heart, thoughts and prayers go out to all affected by this tragedy. God is good, he will only ever give us what troubles we can bear.

Our road... we're so lucky! How this didn't reach our house is a miracle.

Well with the arrival of a new year I have made a few resolutions... I am not making the usual ones of eating less chocolate, being more active, watching less TV etc because they only set me up to fail ☺ Instead I am making ones that will hopefully make me happier, develop my creativity and open up new worlds and adventures. So here are a few of my new year's resolutions for 2011:

☞ Update blog regularly

☞ Learn to quilt

☞ Sew more often

☞ Try new techniques for scrapbooking - leave my comfort zone

☞ Learn to stamp and ink... properly

☞ Attend classes to learn new skills

☞ Be more proactive in achieving my long-term creative goals

☞ Take a photo-a-day (PAD) and share them on here for you all to see

S0 here they are - my PAD photos so far for 2011... (would just like to point out that the days that are missing I did take photos, but for various reasons will not be uploading them here):

January 2nd

View from the plane when landing back in London after our Christmas/New Year in Jersey

January 4th

Pret A Manger - My favourite place! Live on their Pain Au Raisin and sandwiches when in England... ahhh that's where those extra inches arrived from!

January 5th

Walking along Marylebone Road to Regen'ts Park tube station.

January 6th

My sister's dog Audrey. She is absolutely the cutest and was my hot water bottle most nights.

January 7th

My parents, eldest sister, brother & sister-in-law, their gorgeous children and myself. Was so lovely to be able to spend time with them. xx

January 8th

My parents, one of my elder sisters & her partner, my beautiful niece & nephew and myself. One afternoon is such a short time to spend with them! xx

January 9th

My scrumptious Sunday roast at my sister's local pub. Mmmmmm, yorkshire pudding and gravy!

January 10th

Packing for the trip home... once again waaaaaaay tooooooo much shopping.

January 12th

View of the floods as we approached Brisbane airport. Gut-wrenching, tears were rolling down my face seeing this.

January 13th

Another cup of tea? Passing time at the hotel...

Well lovelies this is where I shall leave you. If you or your loved ones are here in Queensland, I hope all is OK and tragedy has not hit.

Love, peace and hope for you all,

H xxxxxx

It's Been A While...

Hello!

Yes it certainly has been a while... a long while... over four months. I am very slack I know, but that's me :-) I don't have much of an excuse, except life got busy and I wasn't really creative for the past little while. However, my beautiful niece Polly-Anna came to visit for a month in August and that sparked my creativeness again! We had such an awesome time! Made sure to show her a bit of Australia - Melbourne, Sydney & Gold Coast - as well as doing the sights of Brisbane. Of course with all our adventures I took many a photo and am slowly making my way through the new photos on the "to-scrap" pile. August is, as any Brissie girl knows, EKKA time! I hadn't been to the Ekka since high school and it was great to revisit the place of some of my fondest childhood memories. It was smaller than I remember, but nonetheless provided another great memory. Anyway here is my Ekka layout:

(Close-up of the lace rosette)

(Close-up of the journalling card)

Materials

Papers: Togetherness (Cosmo Cricket)

Letters: Thickers ("Rainboots" in yellow by American Crafts)

Embellishments: Ribbon, lace and journalling card from my stash.

I have also expanded my creative skills of late and started making headbands. I made the one below with a piece of ribbon, section of tule flower fabric and some little pearl beads. Very quick and simple, but effective don't ya think?

As a treat to myself for my birthday I got an iPhone which has been a very worthwhile investment. I love it! While I do have a habit of texting/calling the wrong person because of the touch screen, I cannot live without it. After a recommendation from my dearest sister, I downloaded the Hipstamatic App and it is AMAZING. The photos that this app take are fab. I love how you can get so many different effects/looks from one program. And the 'Random' feature makes it even better. Here's one of my fave pics so far...

Well that is all for now. Before I go though, I will share with you all a quote I found the other day that I think is just lovely. "Love is like bread. It has to be made fresh every day" ♥

H xxx

Lessons at 23

SO tomorrow is 2 weeks until my 23rd birthday... 23! I can't believe it. Part of me still feels like I'm 17 and gets excited and giddy over silly girly things. (Mind you I don't think that silly side will ever fully go away). While I know 23 isn't - dare I say it - 'old', it still surprises me that I'm here. I remember thinking when I was a teenager that by the time I was 23 I would have achieved a hundred million things. And now that I'm here I realise that life is life. You don't always achieve what you set out to do, or arrive where you planned on going. But at the end of the day what matters is what you have learnt along the way. Yes it's a cliché, but it's true. So here is a couple of things I've learnt in my mere 23 years on this earth.

1. Love is everything. Love is my saving grace. It is the love of my family and friends that have carried me through my darkest hours... and yes there's been a few.

2. You don't have to share the same blood to be family. I am blessed to call some of the world's angels 'adoptive' brothers and sisters.

3. There is a reason for absolutely EVERYTHING! Even if we don't recognise it at the time of hardship, there is a reason for our struggles. Even if we feel like we've wasted our time, there's a reason. There is a lesson to be learnt from every moment of everyday of our lives.

4. God will always take you back and never stops looking out for you. Trust me I am a crap Christian... I never go to Church as often as I should. But deep down I always have my faith and he's always there to guide me through the clear and bleary times.

5. I don't - and never will - know everything. There is still so much for me to learn, accept and acknowledge.

Anyway now that I have been all philosophical and wise I will have my moment of selfishness... (It is my birthday coming up so if I can't be selfish then, when can one be?) There are a couple of things on my wish list. Of course. So here they are:

1. Cath Kidston print Robertson Radio:

2. The complete Dear Lizzy Range:

3. Elizabeth Kartchner's Book:

4. The complete range of Nicey Jane fabric by Heather Bailey:

5. The complete range of Pop Garden fabric by Heather Bailey:

6. My favourite Molton Brown handwash and handcream:

Well that is all. I do believe I have babbled for long enough. Sorry there's no scrapping related stuff of late... have been a bit slack. But I have bought a new table and am eager to have my scrapping goodies strewn across it's crisp, clean, white surface! Until I pull my finger out, stay happy, love life and enjoy your creativeness.

Love H xxx

Eggstra Special Times

So Easter has come and gone again! Right now I'm nursing a rather sore belly as I have consumed more than a lifetime's supply of chocolate eggs, hehe. This year we celebrated this special time with some of our closet friends who came around for a BBQ. There was food for a feast of thousands, more chocolate than we knew what to do with, but most of all a lot of fun! It was such a blast watching my 'adoptive' nieces hunt for the hidden eggs and see the glee in their faces when they found the loot.

(The Loot - being attacked by Miss C)

Now if you remember in my last post you caught a glimpse of my "Easter-Egg Tree"... As promised here are a couple of pics of it in full glory. It took pride of place on the mantle piece this Easter and was accompanied by the girls annual noodle-boxesI found the bunnies at Bed, Bath 'n' Table and thought they were too cute to leave behind.

(The "Egg-Tree")

(Mantle Shelf - Check out my bunting!!!)

(Cute Bunny - How could I not give them homes?)

Just to show that some scrapping has taken place in recent times here is a close up of each noodle-box... I also made the bunting using fabric by the ever beautiful Heather Bailey (you can buy some yourself here).

Anyhoo, my bed is calling and I have lovely work tomorrow - 12hrs and I'm still nursing another chest infection, what fun!? Hope all of you had a lovely Easter and spent it with those that are special to you. Hope this little post has also given you inspiration to make fun events just that little bit EGGstra special, hehe.

Enjoy!

H xxxxxxxxxxxx